Mary Lynn Plaisance Turns Gothic Legend into Southern Mystery...

Taking a legend, with a basic definition of what the Boo Hag monster does, Mary Lynn Plaisance provides readers with a short, mystifying mystery surrounding the lives of two young girls who lived alone in Louisiana, after their father left, their mother died, and then, ultimately, their grandmother who had been taking care of them. Celee was 14 when she began to take care of Tootsie who was 4 at the time...

Celee always brought flowers, holy water, and three candles from her church to the healing dome. Magnolias, mums, or whatever flowers were in bloom, she placed in between each candle for ambience. Her mama always told her that the glowing light of a candle would shine up to Heaven, and the Lord could hear her words from the smoke of the flames. Celee felt comfort from those words. She loved burning candles. She stared into the flames and prayed that everything would be peaceful for everyone in the world. Celee loved peace.

While waiting for the lady to come in her boat, she kept fiddling with the flowers, making sure they looked nice...

At 6:00 pm, in the distance she heard a motor boat approaching the healing dome, it was them.

"Welcome to the healing dome. Welcome."

The lady was clearly amazed at the place. The man looked a little skeptical. The young man looked hopeful...

"The iron dome is beautiful. Hi, I'm Elizabeth. This is my husband John. And...this is our son Stephen. He has crippling arthritis. It came to him in one year when he was only 18 and he was crippled like this ever since then. He's only 20, and we prayed so much that you can help him."

"I can help him," she assured Elizabeth...

~~~

When Ceelie was a young girl, she had healed a frog while at the Healing Dome. Her mother and grandmother explained that she had been blessed and she had been healing since then. Now at the age of 24, with her birthday the same as Tootsie, who would be 14, she had received a request to help a young man who had crippling arthritis. After Ceelie had healed him, his father, who owned a newspaper, wanted to do a story of what he had done. Ceelie quickly asked him not to--she knew that people would come from far and wide for her to heal them and she had been feeling tired, unable to breathe easily. 

The newspaper owner betrayed her and published the story!

Soon the trouble started, including strangers in town who Ceelie noticed was watching her and many gathered at her home asking for her healing power... It was during this time that Tootsie seem to come to resent her for getting so much recognition. She knew, from her mother, that she had also been blessed, but nobody else had ever been told. So whenever Ceelie went to heal at the Dome, Tootsie went out on her own, and had even met a man...

Plaisance has a real gift in writing about the paranormal and creating southern gothic that pulls readers in. The dialogue is relatively simple as, in many ways, Ceelie still thinks of Tootsie as a child. And much of the story of their lives are shares by Tootsie asking Ceelie to tell her stories about their early life...With their birthdays coming, Tootsie has asked for a hi-fi and Ceelie was able to make a good deal with Trader Paw, a 80-year-old shop keeper and friend. She was able to also buy 4 records. 

Tootsie used her talent to make them a rainbow-colored cake and Ceelie loaded the player... Baby Love, Tootsie's favorite came on and they danced around while the other songs came on... But readers will pick up on questionable statements and start wondering just what is going on. So that, for instance, while they are dancing at the birthday party, a strange record is added, that Ceelie didn't buy... Tootsie had first said that Joe gave it to her...but who was Joe?

http://www.theparanormalguide.com/blog/boo-hag

As the ending comes, the pace of the book increases as Tootsie disappears, is found by Ceelie, attempted and murder occurs and we discover that the boo hag is present. Even though you may have begun to guess what was happening, parts of the book is scary, especially if you are like me and had never heard of the paranormal creature, the Boo Hag...

Interesting for me was that Ceelie had begun to doubt her own blessing and attributed the miracles to The Healing Dome... only to have it totally destroyed as Ceelie tried for a miracle there... Can some people heal, or are inanimate things able to acquire healing power through some cosmic energy surge...In this book which I easily read in a day, there is much to ponder and, if you have an interest in the paranormal, you'll especially enjoy separating out the real paranormal gifts that an individual has been given from the legends that are built up through folk lore... Because, surely, some of the book includes the fantasy from the author's creative mind, right?

Surely there are no such things as boo hags... Surely not!

Nobody has seen the two characters in this film since it stopped...mid story...

When you read novels by Mary Lynn Plaisance, expect to be caught up in suspense, the paranormal, a mystery, or just a little fantasy, but don't think you'll be able to predict what you'll be reading... Check out my review of The Ghost of Mavis for something entirely different from this spooky tale!

This book is thought-provoking, easily takes you into the setting of two young Black girls living on their own, growing up and learning what they can from each other and their neighbors... I enjoyed it greatly, even if it took me quite a while to go to sleep after finishing...

GABixlerReviews

Ruby by Cynthia Bond - An Oprah's Book Club Selection...

Ephram Jennings had seen the gray woman
passing like a haint through the center of town
since she'd returned to Bell land in 1965. All
of Liberty had. He had seen her wipe the spittle
from her jerking lips, run her still beautiful
hands over the crust of her hair each day before
she'd turned the corner in view of the two. He'd
seen her walking like she had some place she
ought to have been then five steps away from
P & K Market, stand pillar still, her rain cloud
body shaking. Ephram had seen Miss P, the
proprietor of the store, walk nonchalantly out
of her door and say, "Honey, can you see if I
got the rise in these rolls right?"
Ephram watched Ruby stare past her but take
the brown sack filled with steaming yeast bread.
Take it and walk away with her acres of legs
carrying her, while Miss P said, "You come on
back tomorrow, Ruby Bell, and help me out
if you get the chance."
Ephram Jennings had watched this for eleven
years. Seen her black-bottomed foot kick a
swirl of dust in its wake. Every day he wanted
nothing more than to put each tired sole in his
wide wooden tub, brush them both in warm
soapy water, cream them with sweet oil and
lanoline and then slip her feet, one by one
into a pair of red-heel socks.
But instead, with each passing year...he sat
alongside the crowd of men parked on their
stools outside P & K...They had all watched,
steadily, as she slipped into madness...
~~~

When I first saw the title of this book, I immediately thought of a story by my dear online friend, Spencer Turnage, who I still miss after his death.  I shared a story he had written entitled, Miss Ruby. 


Click to Read Miss Ruby

As I read the story by Cynthia Bond and met Ephram, I realized that my vision of Spencer matched the personality of the male main character. Ephram was a good man...

It's taken me a week to read this book. At times, the content got to be so overwhelming that I had to stop reading. This is an extremely dark book and I urge you to read other reviews--pro and con--if you have not yet read the book. As the heading says, this is the
latest book selected for the Oprah Book Club. While I recognize that it is very well written and certainly deserves a top rank and undoubtedly has a place in Black History, I still find that I could not wholeheartedly recommend it to all readers...unless you are willing to confront the powerful, dark images that will grow worse as the story moves forward. If it were not for Ephram and the relationship he began with Ruby, I would have stopped reading altogether.
In fact, it seemed that only one other individual in town--Miss P who ran the local store, had an ounce of goodness! The town of Liberty certainly was not filled with individuals free...to be...in the light...



Ruby

By Cynthia Bond

Ruby had lived in Liberty when she was young and it was then that Ephram had first saw and loved her. That was when he was 11. By that time, Celia, Ephram's older sister and he were more or less on their own, including having been banned at that time from attending the church in which they were raised. (Since Oprah supports the book, she's the one who stars as Ruby...)

"You got da mystic star. There,"
She took her other hand. "There
too. Lord child you ain't nothing but
a doorway. How many haints you
count at your heels?"
Ruby stopped dead. It was the first
time anyone had seen. It meant she
couldn't pretend it was a game anymore,
or a piece of a bad dream. Finally she
answered, "Three."
~~~

Ephram had gone fishing when Maggie Wilkins had brought Ruby down near the lake.

He had just finished eating and was sitting with his pole when he spotted them--Maggie Wilkins and the quiet little girl beside her. They were across the lake. The girl tiptoed and leaned in, her nose almost touch Margaret's cheek. She was caramel brown with her hair up and fancy, grown-up eyes in a heart-shaped face...

Just as he thought of retreating into the brush, he saw the quiet girl pointing in his direction. Maggie turned fiercely and cut her eyes at him. "What you staring at?" she called from the lake...

                                                           ~~~

It was during that first meeting that they went on to see Ma Tante. Ephram's father had said "she was the Devil's midwife and stitched evil into night's coattails. The Reverend had preached for his congregation to stay away. But when anybody needed her services, they chose not to pay heed to their Reverend's advice.

The one with the oval lodestone tied
on its back--was for Ruby. 
~~~

Ma Tante had made them each a gris-gris, but somehow, Ruby's had been held for all these years by Ephram... I wondered, if Ruby had held on to it, whether she would have gone through what she had... But, later, it was taken from Ephram and buried deep in the ground, never to be found again.

Useless, Ma Tante thought. To give them the gris-gris she'd made. What difference could it make? Didn't have the juice time would have fed them. She'd made them up quick when she'd smelt the children coming through the rain. Couldn't stop nothing. Still, it was a sin not to paddle your boat, even in a lake of fire. So, into each hand Ma Tante put a teeny black doll...no bigger than a child's pinkie.

It was not long after that Ruby was taken from her home and established in a house where men could visit the young girls... Ruby got a quarter tip for each visit, which was held in a small bowl next to her bed. She was able to become friends with another little girl who quickly told her the ropes--in particular, that the tips were hers, but others would come to try to take them! They became close as sisters and sometimes were paired--they didn't mind since it was easier on both of them. At least until he came... He played the game of good girl versus bad little girl. Ruby became his good little girl and later watched as her friend was killed...

That was the first murdered child that she invited to enter her...

Ruby later learned that the man had paid for exactly what he had done...

Because of her great beauty, while Ruby was continued in prostitution, she later found females who would treat her better and dress her according to their status. Still, when she learned of the death of her childhood friend, she went home, still as beautiful as she had been there in New York. But as she made her way back to the Bell home, she was soon accosted by town men...but, more, by all of the little children who had been murdered in the woods surrounding her place. They rushed to her, seeking help...and a home. She soon was calling them her babies. And when a little one was finally able to feel safe and ready to leave this earth, Ruby would bury each one under a large  

china-berry tree, from which she would gain strength from, along with surrounding natural items, to deal with what was happening to her...Soon all of her clothes and other items she had brought from New York were stolen and her mind began to wander. She no longer took care of herself, nor her home and both became filthy. Men who would come for her would throw buckets of water on her, take her, and leave her where they had been, on the ground...

 Ruby whispered, softly to herself,
that there was nothing there,
just the coming evening. Still her
 skin tingled hot, her mouth dry
 as it crossed the space between
 them and pressed against her,
flattening her dress against her
chest, her legs.
~~~

But for all that Ruby had lost, there were many things she had found.
A rising growl that rumbled out of her belly. Drool that wetted her lips and slid down the angle of her jaw. A jerking, rhythmic contortion of her face. Because these often happened without her permission and in view of the town, Ruby found what it was to no longer be seen as human.
She discovered that she could hammer her pride so wafer thin that she could accept alms like a beggar.
Then, one late afternoon, Ruby found a new pitted terror, as she sat on her bed watching dust swim in the light. She heard the slow creak of the screen door, a flutter of sparrows outside. She listened as a cup of water on the kitchen table turned over, and a thin cascading splash, like a man urinating, poured onto the floor. Ruby waited--it would not be the first time someone had some unannounced. But instead of a man, she saw a weighted, umber thickness slide into the room.
It shifted, moving along the floorboards. It darkened the corners, adding mass to the shadows...Ruby did not know why she sat on the bed, then lay down, but the old curtains ruffled towards the window frame, not away. Then something fell upon her chest. The scent of a deal candle filled her, making it hard to breathe. When the mattress sank deeper, Ruby thought to scream, but whatever lay upon her whispered the creaks and groans of the house into her ear, it smoothed and relaxed her until she felt a soft pressure upon her groin...Ruby knew this was a Dybou--what Ma Tante had spoken of so long ago. A heat pulsed around her, then entered her. The house seemed to shake.
She spoke, but it was not Ruby speaking. In a low graveled voice she grunted, "Bitch," hot air escaping her lips, "Whore."

While things continue to get worse for Ruby, a breath of fresh air comes into the story when Ephram realizes that he can no longer pretend he does not care what is happening... He asks Celia, his older sister, to bake an angel food cake, which immediately sets her on alert, wanting to know to whom it was to be given...

After some interesting times with his protecting that cake, he finally gets it to Bell land where he finds Ruby outside... The gentle tenderness Ephram shares with Ruby is truly a beautiful thing and almost took away the bad feelings... but not quite. Because as more and more of the story is revealed, it gets even worse than what I've shared.

For me one of the saddest is that, while much of the story is centered around the church, there are very few characters, besides Ephram and Ruby, that serve to lighten the town's population.  Yet, how did Ephram reveal such goodness and love? By the time revelations about church members were finished, I felt that the story had gone too far in the exploration of the dark life of town members. Was it necessary to create such a divergent path between good and evil choices in order to emphasize the love story that ultimately developed? I will admit that the ending was almost a relief, with a satisfying ending. But what haunts me is the 98% dark story of lust, hate, murder and child abuse...

Perhaps the reality of the book in history as well as today's world is what scared me most of all...


GABixlerReviews

Studied journalism, won a PEN Fellowship, taught homeless youth, became a mama, wrote one 900 pg novel named RUBY, cut it into 3 books & managed to stay sane.

CYNTHIA BOND is a New York Times Best-Selling Author. Her novel RUBY was chosen to be an Oprah Book Club 2.0 selection. RUBY was also a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and an Indie Next Pick. A PEN Rosenthal Fellow, Bond attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, then moved to New York and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She founded the Blackbird Writing Collective in 2011. Cynthia has taught writing to at-risk and homeless youth for over fifteen years, and is on staff at Paradigm Malibu Adolescent Treatment Center. She is currently completing the second book in the RUBY Trilogy. A native of East Texas, she lives in Los Angeles with her daughter.

Please note that I found the interview with the author to be of value in better understanding the book... https://aboutkatebraithwaite.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/qa-with-cynthia-bond/

http://cynthiabond.com/book-club-assets/

Prince of Conjurers by Laurie L. Bolanos Creates Life for the Phantom...After...Christine! And...With Bolanos You Get Lacour!

Between you and me, at that moment, the small strain of humanity that runs in my soul overpowered my own wants and desires. Her happiness mattered more than my own. And I let her go.

Christine.

When I set her free. I meant it. I had wanted to die. However, it did not take long for bitterness to take root in my heart. Die for love of her? I think not! She is mine. The life I wanted was disappearing with the golden-haired, perfect-featured vicomte...

It angers me how they rejoice in my timely departure. The relief in their embrace. The passion of their kisses revolts me. I want to kill them both!

But, I am a patient man.

"Leave Paris," their soft voices agree. Start their lives over, sail away. Passage to La Nouvelle-Orleans. I hear the word faintly as they believe they leave me to my endless slumber...

I will remain a man of my word.

Raoul may continue to have her heart, but I will have her immortal soul. I will collect what is mine. It belongs to me... I am the Prince of Conjurers.

~~~

Prince of Conjurers

By Laurie L. Bolanos

Like the author, I, too, had much empathy for Eric, the man who lost Christine in The Phantom of the Opera... So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read an alternative story about his life. One that picks up when he is thought dead and Christine and Raoul have ran off to be together... It is a quite plausible story that weaves in the main theme of The Phantom, but, clearly, takes off into a truly remarkable fantasy that uses reincarnation as the dominant theme... I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover and cover and highly recommend it for your consideration!

Eric heard the plan of Raoul, to move to New Orleans, and immediately started thinking... Eric, no longer the Phantom follows them. Now to be the Prince of Conjurers... The breadth and scope of the novel is, however, far more than I could have imagined and swirls like smoke in the air as time loses all meaning, readers are thrown into visions, or actual movement, into recent and the far past...

For now, Eric is in New Orleans, set on getting Christine away from Raoul, even if he has to kidnap her! He has already started his plan...

And with New Orleans, I am thrilled to offer the music of Barry Lacour from his latest CD "Heads-Up," to take us into the mood and setting of New Orleans, Louisiana...

His plan was genius.

Christine would be left alone most of the time, without anyone around to interfere. Nothing prevented him from the greatest, most magnificent endeavor, as if for once in his wretched existence, he was accepted into the greater design of life and it approved of his intentions. The way was being made clear for him with very little effort. He could not ask for more.

Well, maybe just a little...

~~~

In the year 2009, however, there is a lovely young woman who has just moved into a new home and is renovating the place herself. She is happy to be able to knock out walls, get her hands dirty, hammering and mumbling under her breath, "You low-down dirty dog!", as she pictures her ex-husband's face...then her ex-best friend Monika with whom said ex-husband was now living! Monika's betrayal hurt the most since they had been friends since high school.

She couldn't stop the memories from resurfacing. Her stomach churned at the recalling of Marvin Gaye's seductive voice drifting down the stairs from their bedroom. Marvin Gaye had always been a sign that her husband wanted her. She had assumed Simon must have called her office and found she had left for the day earlier than usual.

With her pulse racing, Julie climbed up the stairs, kicking off her shoes. It had been at least two weeks since they had made love. She pictured him waiting in bed for her as she took off her belt and headed for their bedroom.

"Hello, Baby," She pushed open the ajar door, posing seductively.

The rest of the memory came as snapshots. Messed up bed. Sheets hanging over the edge. Two wine glasses on the nightstand. Empty bottle lying on its side. Two sets of clothing crumpled on the floor. Running water in the bathroom. Muffled laughter. Her heart racing. Difficult breathing. Dread crushing her soul. Marvin Gaye singing on...

~~~

The novel begins to move back and forth between 2009 and 1898. Julie continues working on her home, absorbing the atmosphere of New Orleans, refusing to have her palm read by a local named Star, while meeting and becoming friends with a gay neighbor, while she demands that he keeps his lovers out of her apartment!

In the meantime, Eric is following Christine, even spying on her in their new home, and even following them to the opera, where he projects his whisper to her ear whispering, "Sing for me..."

Eric has purchased two different homes, one of which was called "The Devil's Mansion," where he plans to keep Christine. He goes to great expense to create an internal suite of rooms that look like a complete home, including interior sunlight... The remainder, exterior parts of the home, have...traps, traps to keep anybody else out...

Soon, he starts searching...for a vessel in which he will place Christine's soul... Enter Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen...and Naomi, a child-woman he has purchased from a Bordello, who he has selected to be the vessel... The only thing is that Marie wants Naomi for herself... As a virgin she would bring in much money...but there is much more behind her desire... Eric quickly marries Naomi so there will be no way that she can be claimed by anybody else...

"I have noticed the other
ladies decorate their headdresses.
 I thought you
might like these." The
brooches sparkled in his
hand as they reflected the
light in the room.
"Ooooh," Her eyes grew
big. "Those are for me?"
~~~

Eric leaned back in his carriage, hands behind his head with a satisfied grin that felt permanently etched on his face. The girl had accepted...
His reverie broken, Erik entered his house. Behind his closed door, he felt invigorated. The new day, the events of the past few hours, wiped away all fatigue. He ascended the stairs two at a time to his greenhouse of the roof. He wanted to work on his herbs. Marie's potion would have to be altered to suit his needs. He wasn't looking for a zombie, but a means to still the mind and body long enough to summon Christine's soul into it.

~~~

Unfortunately, one man, who had loved Naomi from her home town, would not give up so easily...

I should mention that Eric has learned much about the use of makeup materials which he uses to hide the scars on his face, ridding himself of the mask.  He has assumed a new name, Monsieur de la Croix... Quickly he is recognized as a man of means and becomes well known in the French Quarter... And then he took the big step... He sent Naomi to Christine's home, offering Naomi to help her--Christine was pregnant! Eric was enraged, until he learned that she had given him Eric's name...surely she still loved him... 

I would not even attempt to share about what that connection brought about, other than to say that Naomi and Christine became friends...

The man hesitated a moment then stepped closer to Armando, extending his hand. "My name is Heath."

Armando eagerly grabbed the man's hand, the multiple gaudy bracelets on his wrist jingled as they shook." Charmed, I'm sure."

"I couldn't help but admire your bracelet," Heath said, releasing Armando's hand. Armando stretched his arm out, turning his wrist up. "You like?"

Curious, Julie leaned over to get a look. Sure enough, among the many tacky pieces of gold costume jewelry was a dull silver bracelet with small silver balls and a silver charm. On the face of the charm was a complicated braided pattern of silk-like material in dark and light browns.

"Se-ma-j," Julie bit through clenched teeth, her voice elevating with each syllable. "What is he doing with my bracelet?"

~~~

As Julie is working on her home, she finds two things at two different times...and she meets a man in whom we could be interested. Unfortunately, he had been the one to notice a bracelet she'd found when it had been taken by her next door neighbor's friend. Shall we just say, she made quite a fuss about it. Then realized that she had totally lost control...and Heath had seen it all! While he still expressed interest in seeing the bracelet, she thought that was all that he was interested in... Still she did learn much more and realized that the bracelet was probably very valuable. Whenever she had a chance to see Heath, she happily agreed....

Meanwhile, interestingly, Eric finds that he is quite attracted to Naomi and feels he has made a great choice for the future. What he was surprised at, though, was that she was so kind and gentle and responded to him in a grateful, but, most, loving manner. He found himself responding to her--until he would catch himself realizing that she was not Christine. And Christine was His!

Then with rising dread, she remembered the ritual, the phone call, the darkness, and Heath worried by her side. He wasn't by her side now. The only sound she heard was the wood-burning fire.

Though her mind panicked, her body continued its slow, even breathing undisturbed by her emotions. This is not a hospital. Where am I? The more anxious Julie became, the more she felt the heaviness of her body...She heard a door slide open and footsteps. She inwardly held her breath although her body kept on breathing steadily. This is crazy! She willed herself even harder to wake up. Fight it! Fight!...

"Christine, I have missed you." The man's voice sounded pained.
Julie opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out. Her tongue felt thick and clumsy. She kept trying. She was determined to set the record straight.
"Not Christine." Her voice was a dry, rasping whisper.
The man leaned closer to her, and his breath warmed her ear. "What did you say?"
"Not Christine. Julie, Juliana Francois..."
~~~

Do you believe in reincarnation? Well, whether you do or not, be prepared for the longest line of reincarnated souls you may have ever experienced or read of! By the time I was coming to the conclusion of the book, I was amazed at how the book was ending--not only a surprise, but a thoroughly satisfactory one! But don't let me get ahead of things...because when voodoo is involved, sometimes it results in "Who Do?" You see at exactly the same time that Eric was working to conjure Christine into Naomi's body, Julie, in 2009, was working to learn about her own reincarnated past! You guessed it, Julie wound up in Naomi's body instead of Christine!

The secret pocket door slammed into place by the force of Erik's rage. Impossible! What trickery was this? The woman wouldn't have the ability to lie to him in her altered state, so he knew she spoke the truth. He paced the hall outside the chamber in fury. He wanted to charge into the room and shake the answers out of her, answers that would come because she was in no condition to respond to an interrogation.
A sudden rush of understanding gripped him like a vise. Now, not only did he not have Christine, but he had lost Naomi also. What had he done?
~~~

And that is where I shall leave you! The conjurer has gotten someone he hadn't conjured! Julie finds herself in 1898, inside of the woman who had once lived and held her soul. And all I'll say is that's when the fun begins for readers as a 2009 outspoken independent female meets male chauvinist Eric with an obsession for Christine, another woman, even though Julie, in Naomi's body, is now Eric's wife! Yikes! I loved it!

But that's just the beginning! How do you undo voodoo? 

Eric stood back within the wooded area on the north side of Congo Square. He had just spent an hour gazing through Christine's windows, watching her with her son and her husband. He had to be sure she was Christine and not Naomi. And she was, in every way, confirming for him that Naomi must be wherever the stranger had come from...

With expertise, the voodoo queen unraveled the reluctant snake that tried its best to stay anchored to her body and handed it over to a waiting follower. "See to it Zombie is put in his cage," she commanded. The crowd watched in utter silence as the man hurried away.

"Behold!" Marie called out while opening her arms to the crowd. "Even the son of the Devil seeks my counsel." A rise of whispers shot through the spectators. Encouraged by their reactions, she grabbed Erik's hand and raised it high into the air with her own. "I alone, Queen of Voodoo, can bring solace to the Prince of Darkness." Erik snatched his hand back with a scorching look, while Marie kept hers up to the level of her eyes.

Eric narrowed his eyes and hissed loud enough only for her ears. "My noose would find its mark around your neck, witch, if that was what I desired...

"I don't fear you," she sneered. You have sought me out, not I you."

He let his face harden. "Only to make you fix your sabotage..."

~~~

Dare you enter the world of Voodoo, conjuring, reincarnation, immortality, obsessed love, and more? Will Eric ever find the fulfillment of the love he had once felt for Christine, only to have her feelings ripped away by another man? Wow, you can't possibly imagine the answer given by Laurie L. Bolanos! Brilliant! Bravo to Bolanos, as well as her father, Barry Lacour... who has added to the mystic bounty that readers will find in Prince of Conjurers! Enjoy!


GABixlerReviews

Laurie L. Bolanos lives below sea level in a small cottage on the edge of a city shaped like a bowl. When given the opportunity, she doesn't mind hopping a few states over to enjoy Gulf breezes and to dip her toes in the ocean. She likes to take long walks on the beach, sip the occasional piña colada, and soak in the rays of the sun. No matter the venue, her preference is to be barefoot. However, she will bend to social expectations and don a pair of shoes when necessary. She enjoys attending a monthly drumming circle at which she was, in fact, told she has a "natural ability." Loving the vibrations of the drum, she has also invested time with tuning-fork therapy, although she has not yet been certified in the art. Laurie comes from an Italian family and can prove it with her DNA results from 23andMe which has confirmed that she is 40.4% Italian. Other nationalities need not feel left out as she also has French, German, British, Irish, Iberian, Balkan, Sardinian, Scandinavian, Ashkenazi, Middle Eastern, West African, and Yakut ancestry, proving by her very existence that we are one world and should not be divided by race.

Laurie L. Bolanos was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents who are devout readers and passed that love on to her. In fact, she kept files on people throughout her childhood insisting that she would need the information as one day she would write a book. She graduated from Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie, Louisiana and went on to graduate from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana with a BA in English. She was an LPN for twelve years before returning to Delgado/Charity School of Nursing, graduating as an R.N. in January of 2006. She continues her nursing career while writing in her spare time. In between working and writing, she reads. There is nothing like the journey a good book can provide.

Sequel to Murder on False River - Political Treason - by Martha Gabour Manuel... A Conclusion or Setup for More?!

Click to Read Review!

Political Treason is an interesting followup title to Manuel's previous novel, Murder on False River. Of course, it really isn't if you've read the first book, since it definitely took readers deep into the political arena, as does the sequel. 

The way the second book ended, however, I wasn't quite sure whether or not this really was an ending to the savvy  Senator Savannah Devereaux and her family... you'll see why when you learn what happens.

And speaking of family, it is her stepson who is shot in this second book, although thankfully he survives after critical care at the Baton Rouge General Medical Center... The shooting was cause for high visibility since there had not been a shooting in the Capitol since Governor Huey P. Long had been shot... It is rumored that this latest incident had the ghost of Governor Long roaming the halls of the building...

Political Treason

By Martha Gabour Manuel

You might say that Dylan had been exactly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through an oversight by an employee, an important envelope had been left in a conference room; but just as he was going back to retrieve it, it had been stolen and the thief was fleeing. Although he chased after, by that time, the thief was coming out a door and ran directly into Dylan, shooting him before Dylan even realized what was happening...

While all the attention was on getting Dylan to the hospital, rushing him into surgery, contacting Senator Devereaux and all other needed activities, another man named Sydney Fairchild had been traveling in his RV to meet a trusted

friend and contact. He was just about to turn onto the Audubon Bridge when he was hit by a huge truck and also rushed to the same hospital. Travis, his contact, had been waiting, anxious to know what new information Sydney would be sharing, only to later learn it had been completely destroyed in the fire that also destroyed the RV...

All five men ordered drinks. They they began
looking over the menus while Patti left to fill
their orders.
The band of men had been formed many years
ago. Each member that was invited into their
elite circle was discussed at great length and
chosen only after much deliberation and soul-
searching...Senator Lansing was the first man
to speak. From his take charge attitude he
appeared to be the ringleader. He was by far
the oldest...
I thought we agreed that there would be no
violence in any actions that we undertook...
What happened..."
That's, plus the fact that I'd
like to know how the word got out about the
envelope," stated a third man. "Everyone's
talking about it. The only good thing is that at
least we got the envelope before it got to the
governor."
"Well, yes and no..."
"I have the envelope we got from our two
messengers. You can look for yourself and see
the information we recovered that we were
led to believe was being forwarded to the
governor."
"It means that someone is on to us," said
Senator Lansing.
"What do you mean?" questioned the fifth man.
"There's nothing but blank paper in the
envelope. What was supposed to be in it?"
"I hate to admit it, but it's very possible we
have an informant either in our group, or
someone that has access to what we are doing...
!!!

Emile sat quietly by himself in an office down the hall from where Dylan had been shot...His mind started retracing the day's events...

The special meeting called by the governor's staff for the press corps earlier in the day had been a highly contentious one, and consequently kept Emile working later than usual. Throughout the State of Louisiana, the news media had once again latched on to the continuing saga of the Bayou Corne Sinkhole. It was the first reported failure of a brine cavern sidewall, which made its collapse unprecedented.

At the end of the press conference different members of the governor's staff had him running paperwork back and forth and delivering messages. Still, that was no excuse for leaving highly confidential information unguarded on a table in the conference room...

He knew the meeting had been necessary, but it was a difficult meeting for him to sit through...Many people, including some of Emile's family and friends, had been forced to evacuate their homes almost two years ago. 

Regardless of all his other attributes, Emile's most valuable asset to the office was the fact that he never questioned authority...

"At first I though I just didn't understand how the system works," Emile confessed to Rose. "From the beginning there have been things going on that bothered me. I didn't want to call you, because the walls in the capitol have ears. Somehow or another they know everything you say or do. When I first started working in the governor's office, I was told that I had to have a private email account. That was in case anyone needed to send me information that they didn't want the general public to know about. They said that everything that is sent through regular email is a matter of public record that the press can have access to. I told them I understood, although I'm not sure I really do.

Since I have been in the governor's office, I have started seeing multiple contracts being given out to close friends of the governor and his staff. They were contracts that should have been on.

Often when contracts were about to expire, the individuals who were responsible for the contracts suddenly left their contracted jobs and were moved into top level government positions...I can't even begin to tell you about the cover-ups that I've seen go on in state government in just the short time that I've been there.

Somehow, word has gotten out about a few of the contracts that have been given out illegally. I'm beginning to wonder if they may think that that's my fault too, since it looks like the leaks have started since I was hired."

"Oh, Emile, that's horrible. Sure they can possibly think it was you have was responsible for telling anybody."

"I didn't think so at first, but now I'm not so sure. I don't know what to do
Rose. They longer I'm there, the deeper I'm getting involved...

~~~

Savannah and Dana had become close and she spent as much time as possible at the hospital while he was recovering.  At the same time, we get into an interesting subplot when the other man who had entered at the same time, Syndey, is taken to a retirement home and develops friendships with another older man and a young male employee. What these three get into certainly adds a bit of fun and warm feelings as they grow closer to each other. Part of a climatic ending, one of them shows just how much they meant to him...

One mystery slowly evolved as it was realized that key people in government were dying--usually through some type of accident. Savannah was shocked when one of them was a good friend, Senator Tom Bickman. But it got worse, when she learned what they were saying...

"I guess you know what they're saying," Ruth Anne came back.
"No what?" asked Savannah somewhat confused.
"The talk is that he was on his way back to Baton rouge after the Easter holidays. He stopped at a store in Marksville to get coffee and got shot by a man trying to rob the store. He died before they could get him to the hospital."
"Oh yes, I know that."
"But that's not all. They say it was a setup," Ruth Anne continued.
"What?"! a horrified Savannah exclaimed.
"That's true," said Shirley. "You know he had that legislation he wanted passed to ban those bath salts. That's gotten to be a big business around here. I know for a fact there were some people that were really mad at him for that."

~~~

And now she was wondering if whether Dylan's being shot was also a setup...

Perhaps even what had happened to her was a followup to her husband's accident... Or was it just two criminals who were trying to prevent her from testifying against them... Well no matter what, she was going to make sure nothing stopped her from putting those men behind bars!

While a later twist was not too surprising, it did pull the whole story together, while at the same time, Savannah had an opportunity to take a cruise and had a wonderful time! And with this hint, I'm closing with a high recommendation...

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About the Author

Martha Manuel retired from state civil service in 2007 to run for state senator. While unsuccessful in her bid for office, the experience offered her an opportunity to view the electoral process firsthand. Martha's eminence as a registered representative with a major Wall Street investment firm; director of the EBR Parish Health Unit; and executive director of the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs only highlight a few of the varied and coveted positions she has held, adding an unusual degree of credibility to her stories. Martha Manuel is also the author of Murder on False River.